I have worked with Jamie since the beginning of my counselling journey
when he supervised me as a student. He has the perfect balance of being
compassionate while also challenging me in a supportive way. His
knowledge and experience has really supported me in my professional growth and
development as a counsellor, so much so that I have continued to work
with him since becoming qualified. I always leave supervision feeling
invigorated and inspired.
-
Stacey
As well as a counsellor I am also a qualified supervisor, providing clinical supervision to both qualified and trainee counsellors. I am on the approved register for several colleges, universities and counselling organisations and have a particular interest in working with student counsellors. I can still remember how it felt daunting for myself when I began my training and started placement so my aim is to support student counsellors to develop their own style by sharing my experiences and giving them the confidence to grow and flourish.
Supervision in counselling is when a counsellor uses the services of another counsellor to review the way they work with their clients. Supervision is a requirement by the British Association of Counselling Practitioners (BACP) to ensure all counsellors in practice are keeping their skills up to date and that they work in a safe and ethical way. Supervision in counselling also forms part of the counsellor’s professional and personal development.
Supervision in counselling is an important part of working to professional standards. As such, it is required by the Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions, published by the BACP:
'We will keep skills and knowledge up to date by … reviewing our
knowledge and skills in supervision or discussion with experienced
practitioners’ (paragraph 14b).
The BACP Ethical Framework goes on to provide a full section devoted to supervision, starting as follows (paragraph 50):
"Supervision is essential to how practitioners sustain good practice throughout their working life. Supervision provides practitioners with regular and ongoing opportunities to reflect in depth about all aspects of their practice in order to work as effectively, safely and ethically as possible. Supervision also sustains the personal resourcefulness required to undertake the work."
I am a qualified supervisor having completed my 'Level 6 Advanced Certificate in Clinical Supervision Including Online
and Telephone Working'. I practice a person-centred approach to supervision which emphasises the person of the
counsellor/ supervisee and the development of their therapeutic
abilities rather than just focusing on the individual concerns of
clients. It is my belief that when counsellors are not attuned to their own needs, fears and
unconscious factors, these can negatively interfere with the client's
process. Therefore a major goal of supervision is helping supervisees
grow in self-awareness, self-confidence and understanding of the
therapeutic process. When supervising I use the Hawkins and Shohet’s Seven-Eyed Model of
Supervision, which integrates the relational and systemic aspects of
supervision. As a qualified supervisor, I also adhere to and draw on the BACP’s Supervision Competence Framework and I have my own qualified BACP supervisor who supervises my supervisee work.
As a supervisor, it is my aim to build a strong working alliance with my supervisees, where trust can be established to allow for a safe place for them to come and share how things are “really” going in relation to their therapeutic work. I endeavour to offer an effective supervisory relationship which fosters a non-judgmental approach, offering both support and appropriate challenge. I aim to provide all my supervisees with my warmth and respect for them as fellow counsellors, my interest in their experiences and processes with their clients and how this might be affecting them. My commitment is to be present where they are, to be an active agent in the supervisory relationship and to draw on my facilitative skills, knowledge and experience to provide an exploratory and educative supervisory relationship which promotes their professional growth and development.
There are lots of practising supervisors to choose from and it is
really important that you find one that feels the right fit for you. You need someone
with whom you feel you can work, someone who will really listen to you
and who will do their very best to understand your world.
If you feel I might be the supervisor for you, please send me an email at [email protected],
and we can arrange a free 20-minute video call to meet one another
and see if it feels right. We can discuss
what supervision will involve, what your requirements are and what you are looking for from a supervisor. This initial consultation is free and
there is no obligation for you to choose me as your supervisor.
If you decide that
you wish to proceed, we can then set up your first session and take it
from there.
I offer online supervision sessions from the comfort of your own home, allowing you the benefit of flexibility of time and location. This enables me to offer supervision sessions throughout the UK.
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In person supervision in a comfortable modern environment.
These sessions would take place in offices based in
central Lincoln.